Drama with Borderlands update. What is it about?
Tos, or a personal spy. When you hear “Borderlands”, you think: CEL-SHADING, Chaos and Claptrap, which you want to set fire to and then extinguish using a hammer. But in June 2025, this iconic, funny looter-shooter hit the headlines not because of the new content, but by the update that brought the players a surprise to the players: the new Terms of Service (Tos). “Regulations” may not arouse emotions, he, some of them, like a deputy with fire extinguishers. And imagine that you are opening a fridge, and there Gearbox, with a jar of petroleum jam, gloves over your privacy, with a smile says: “bend and legs wide. We agreed, right?”
What exactly has changed?
Here is a quick review of changes in the new TOS for Borderlands:Collecting system data – Now Gearbox has a full insight into your computer. Specification, software, probably even a folder with compromising photos from the bachelor Śwagra, Nudesami from the former and scans of receipts.Arbitration clause – So you give up the right to a lawsuit. Do you have a problem? Instead of a court you will talk to the “independent mediator”, whose salary is paid by the publisher. It will certainly be as objective as the District Electoral CommissionDeleting an account for no reason – Gearbox reserves the right to delete player accounts as desired. We wished someone a pleasant enema on Discord? There is no account. Because no.Rights to content created by players – From now on, every mod, skin, fanart or even a comment in the style of “Claptrap sucks wire” can be used by the publisher without any remuneration, because why do you? This is not a joke. This is an official legal document, which resembles an offer from a local mafiosis, holding a jar with petroleum jelly, rather than a computer game regulations.
Players' reaction: scream, review bombing and digital torches, because the forks came out
The player community did not disappoint. On Reddit, she poured out the update warning threads. One of the users published graphics showing Borderlands as “Black Mirrorlands”. Steam was flooded with a wave of negative reviews because Review Bombing works. One of the best comments: “I had a good time … Until the game demanded the act of ownership of my computer. And my fiancée's panties.”
Of course, the YouTube community did not disappoint. Dozens of films with titles like “Borderlands Betrayed Us” or “Gearbox, Have You Lost Your Damn Mind?!” For this Twitter (no, I do not intend to use the name x): trending hashtags #boycottborderlands and #2KSPyware, with the latter sounds like the name DLC, which Borderlands simply has too much.
Players clearly showed: we do not want to play a game that treats us as free resources to squeeze, and nudesy from the former and a stag photo, these are mine and ch **.
Where is the point? Where's logic?
In defense of the publisher (and let me lose), it can be said that there was a reasonable reason. First of all, telemetry can help balance the game. Knowledge about where players most often die or how quickly they abandon specific heroes is a treasure for the developer. It is true that it is possible to introduce tracking such things in the game and at the same time get rid of the bang from the Otherfans Archive on the customer's computer, but hey … The arbitration clause avoids expensive lawsuits. In theory, he accelerates dispute resolution. It is a pity that if they did not move, there would be no potential costly lawsuit, but hey … Legal security on users' content protects the company against a situation where Modder suits them for “theft of an idea”. Bang up that one Timestamp from the Modern Forum will give a clear view who came up with the idea as the first, but hey …
Borderlands Game of the Year Enhanced / photo: Steambrzati logically, FCH ** I know that I am emotionally histed, but instead of applying precise, transparent records, Gearbox threw it into TOS literally everything that could be entered so that the company lawyer did not get. This is not regulations. This is a manifesto of surveillance.
Are players exaggerating? Spoiler: no
On the Internet there will always be those who turn the scandal from Dupapowod. They have always been and will always be. But this time frustration is justified. The fact that the changes are unilaterally forced, because you can't play without the acceptance of new conditions, I understand it, because you won't jump, but you can't defend such flowers as an appropriation of content, you can't defend. If you do a skin, Gearbox can sell it and don't give you a cent. Because yes. Instead of adding from each other, hiring, even those moderates who make sure that the game from many years ago is still alive and current, prefers to milk, let them not be surprised that they find a mysterious resistance of matter in this matter. Disappearing accounts, this is a joke at all. Even if you tell the penis that it is a penis, it may turn out that you will recommend your account where you have been playing for years.
Arbitration, in turn, is not a form of justice, but a security protection. And poop on the cake – collecting data. Nowadays, such practices will always meet with resistance. And you have to be indecently a blunt spear so as not to be aware of it. In short: no one was buying Borderlands to turn the privacy policy into Betatester.
Where does the game end and the product begins as a service?
Changes in TOS are not isolated. In recent years, more and more AAA games have treated players as “Monetization assets”. It is not only about micropayments or lootboxes, but about full control over what you can do with your game. That's how I look at you Ea and Nintendo, you, I would tell you who is the game? Great. But you are not its owner. You are a licensee. On conditions that can change at any time. This is not cyberpunk. It's here and now. And Borderlands enters this discussion through the door, the window, and the terminal and the heavy megaphone.
And what now? Does a boycott make sense?
Some players have already uninstalled Borderlands. Some, without the ceremony, in protest, dumped Borderlands out of their accounts. Others have not accepted TOS and cannot play. Still others pretend that nothing happened, because. The boycott only works when it is mass and long -term. Unfortunately, history teaches us that many players come back – especially when DLC appears. Or onions.
Borderlands Game of the Year Enhanced / photo: Steamale, even if we do not stop this change, we can publicize it. And to force other studies to reflect: it may not be worth turning into a digital big brother. When Gearbox announced a new TOS, they probably did not predict that they will become a symbol of digital abuse of trust. But they became. “
Players don't fight for nonsense. They fight for control over what they bought.
For the right to privacy. For honest rules, freedom, legitimacy and nudesy from the former. That I will not mention the photos from Knigsen Śwagra. And seriously. If we allow a game about shooting mutants from a rocket shotgun to become a platform for collecting data and testing the limits of acceptability … who will be next? Sims? And remember: next time the game will ask you for permission to new conditions … Read. Because maybe you sign the regulations, but a vaseline contract.
